CONTROLS Synonyms: 196 Similar and Opposite Words

controls 1 of 2

noun

plural of control

as in controllers

a mechanism for adjusting the operation of a device, machine, or system the controls for the player are well marked

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Relevance

as in hands

the ability to direct the course of something after the tail fell off, the plane went out of the pilot's control firefighters keeping control of the blaze

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in operations

the act or activity of looking after and making decisions about something control of manufacturing operations was given to a new manager with fresh ideas

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as in powers

the right or means to command or control others teachers are responsible for the students under their control

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controls

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of control

as in regulates

to keep from exceeding a desirable degree or level (as of expression) you must learn to control your temper

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as in contains

to gain emotional or mental control of he controlled himself only with the greatest difficulty in the face of his opponent's insulting remarks

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as in rules

to exercise authority or power over circumstances often control the choices we make in life

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as in operates

to look after and make decisions about during the period that she controlled the company it was highly profitable

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of controls

Noun

For households, parental controls allow restricting access to inappropriate and adult content. — Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 5 Sep. 2026 Potential support could cover siting, licensing, fabrication, safety-basis development, project controls and deployment planning for NANO Nuclear’s KRONOS MMR Energy System and portable microreactor designs. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2026 Cohere received an influx of new customer inquiries after the White House in June put export controls on Anthropic’s advanced AI models. — Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026 Core violations include items that usually relate to general sanitation, operational controls, equipment design or general maintenance. — Arkansas Online, 4 Sep. 2026 The ruling, the first of its kind under Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance, has raised alarms over freedom of association as authorities continue tightening controls after the 2019 democracy protests. — Kanis Leung, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026 While safety experts say the companies’ new controls and pauses are a welcome change, some say there’s still more needed. — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2026 Age verifications and parental controls come with notorious loopholes. — Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 30 Aug. 2026 Recent incidents, like OpenAI's models bypassing controls and Anthropic's models accessing real systems, underscore this threat. — Emil Sayegh, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Verb

Before work begins, ask who owns those assets, who controls the accounts and what happens when the commercial relationship ends. — Scott Keever, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026 That’s partly thanks to US technology controls that limit Chinese companies’ access to advanced AI processors — essential for training increasingly complex AI models. — John Liu, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026 At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Šmits eats up chunks of ice and controls territory. — Vincent Z. Mercogliano, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026 That system, or clock, controls 24-hour patterns in a wide range of areas, from sleep, to hormones, to blood pressure, to inflammation, among others. — Barbara Mantel, NBC news, 10 Sep. 2026 Tesla controls the entire network, the self-driving software, and prices. — Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 10 Sep. 2026 But away from the din at the crammed Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, a quieter labor-management battle is unfolding over who controls the sport’s money and how much should go to players. — Douglas Robson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026 Congress controls many of Washington’s local affairs Washington has long been at the whim of the federal government. — Gary Fields, Fortune, 6 Sep. 2026 Oracle was co-founded by Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison controls Paramount Skydance. — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for controls

Noun

At that moment, pilots in airborne fighter jets radioed controllers to ask for the location of the hijacked aircraft.

— Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026
Motors, controllers and battery cells are still mostly imported.

— ABC News, ABC News, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of controllers

Noun

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also opposed Mamdani's attendance, though the two shook hands there Friday.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 12 Sep. 2026
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also inveighed against Mamdani attending the remembrance, though the two shook hands there Friday.

— Jennifer Peltz, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of hands

Noun

Brian Duker was hired as defensive coordinator and will assist Glenn with game planning and day-to-day operations.

— Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026
Overseeing citywide operations is the ordinary business of government, not Building Code enforcement.

— Fabiola Stuyvesant, Sun Sentinel, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of operations

Noun

At Davos in January, Carney urged middle powers to band together rather than bow to great powers.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 16 Sep. 2026
The crew use three tiers of flame bars behind Howell to spark the inferno that will snake through prom, fueled by the growing intensity of Carrie’s powers.

— Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of powers

Verb

Despite the close parallels to placing a bet on the game in Las Vegas, prediction markets have fallen under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the same federal agency that regulates oil futures and credit default swaps.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
But at the moment, the CFTC — which regulates derivatives contracts — currently only has one, chairman Michael Selig.

— Davis Giangiulio,Justin Papp, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of regulates

Verb

The bill, to its credit, contains a lot of admirable protections for athletes, most notably a 5 percent cap on agents’ commissions on NIL deals.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
Thanks to the single-floor layout of the tiny house, this has ample headroom to stand upright and contains a double bed and some storage.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of contains

Verb

Reportedly, this system operates through a two-way connection, linking real-time image recognition directly with surgical manipulation.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 7 Sep. 2026
SpaceX already operates its Starbase spaceport in rural Texas, as well as launchpads at government spaceports on the coasts of California and Florida.

— Elizabeth Howell, Scientific American, 7 Sep. 2026